Suspense Is Hostiler Than Death

Suspense Is Hostiler Than Death - meaning Summary

Fear of Prolonged Waiting

Dickinson contrasts the finality of death with the corrosive quality of suspense. She suggests death is straightforward and unchangeable, while suspense lingers and repeatedly renews itself, producing cycles of small deaths and resurrections. The poem frames suspense as more hostile than death because it prolongs uncertainty and keeps a person suspended between endings and beginnings. The closing image pairs annihilation with immortality, implying that the repeated dying-and-reliving of suspense is both exhausting and strangely enduring.